Volunteer Spotlight
Nicole Achille
Nicole Achille is a Chicago Native who has always loved working with kids. She says that from the day her brothers were born, they were attached at the hip. She grew up babysitting in her neighborhood and knew that she wanted to continue doing something with children. For the last 9 years, Nicole had been working at a fitness gym and for the last three of those years, she ran a children's program at the gym. Outside of this, she had also been doing volunteer work. After her friend notified her of the AmeriCorps Position with Chicago HOPES for Kids, she realized that she wanted to step into a role bigger than the one she previously held.
Since joining HOPES, how has your role changed compared to your previous positions?
HOPES is more school support as opposed to the daycare that I ran. The age group ranged from 3 months up to 5 years old so there wasn't a lot of school support necessary. So, working with older kids would be the biggest difference in the two positions.
How has your experience been with the transitioning of program due to COVID-19?
It was really interesting to start because I am used to being around people all the time. Working from home was a big transition for me, but once we were able to start doing some virtual programming, I felt more energized. Even if we were not in person I was still connecting with our students and the team. Also, having some of the families leave and move out is tough because we don't get the closure to say our goodbyes during that time.
At CCO, you implemented a chart of affirmations that the students chant out at the end of every program day. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the Chart of Affirmations that you do with the students?
My youngest brother is very big into mindfulness and meditation, so a few years back after one of my first surgeries, he got me into it. I realized that these are things that I could easily implement with the kids so at my last job I would do affirmations every day on the chalkboard. I now try to bring that into everywhere that I work to bring more positivity and joy.
What is your favorite memory of HOPES?
The sweetest moment was during school support one day when two students both wanted assistance at the same time. I was like “I will let you use my phone for 5 minutes on my break and you can listen to this unicorn meditation.” They would do that over time during their breaks for school. One day, one of the students came up to me asking for the unicorn meditation and she got a few other students to join. Then we just had about 15 minutes of sitting in a circle with quiet meditation together. That is probably my favorite memory.
Since joining HOPES, how has your role changed compared to your previous positions?
HOPES is more school support as opposed to the daycare that I ran. The age group ranged from 3 months up to 5 years old so there wasn't a lot of school support necessary. So, working with older kids would be the biggest difference in the two positions.
How has your experience been with the transitioning of program due to COVID-19?
It was really interesting to start because I am used to being around people all the time. Working from home was a big transition for me, but once we were able to start doing some virtual programming, I felt more energized. Even if we were not in person I was still connecting with our students and the team. Also, having some of the families leave and move out is tough because we don't get the closure to say our goodbyes during that time.
At CCO, you implemented a chart of affirmations that the students chant out at the end of every program day. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the Chart of Affirmations that you do with the students?
My youngest brother is very big into mindfulness and meditation, so a few years back after one of my first surgeries, he got me into it. I realized that these are things that I could easily implement with the kids so at my last job I would do affirmations every day on the chalkboard. I now try to bring that into everywhere that I work to bring more positivity and joy.
What is your favorite memory of HOPES?
The sweetest moment was during school support one day when two students both wanted assistance at the same time. I was like “I will let you use my phone for 5 minutes on my break and you can listen to this unicorn meditation.” They would do that over time during their breaks for school. One day, one of the students came up to me asking for the unicorn meditation and she got a few other students to join. Then we just had about 15 minutes of sitting in a circle with quiet meditation together. That is probably my favorite memory.
